Afterwards
by EpicJirachiFan
Summary: Lee, Neji and Tenten get caught up in a battle. After a sudden burst of teamwork, Tenten cant help but feel more than friendship for Lee... A oneshot


Hello all! It's EJF again. So I was rereading Naruto, and I discovered my favourite character (she REALLY needs more screentime.) Anyways, this was going to be a NejiTen fic, but one of my mates bugged me out of it. I might do a NejiTen fic in the future, anyway... ON WITH THE STORY!

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I stopped for a second, panting, and breathed out. Training was finally done for today, I turned to Lee, who was standing behind me, completely shocked, I mean, he was normally shocked over something or another, but he looked more shocked than usual. "What's up Lee?" I asked, casually, "uh... Lee?" I waved my hand in front of his face. "Lee~?" he suddenly snapped out of his trance. And told me that it was nothing. I laughed at that, this was lee, it was never nothing, and it probably had something to do with Sakura or Naruto or something. He laughed with me too, but it didn't stop me from being worried. I guessed that I would be able to find out later, but now was not the time, after all, running through the wilderness after sundown was not ideal. Not by any means.

"We best be headed off now!" I said cheerfully, as I picked up my scrolls. "Where's Neji?"

"Oh, he went back early." Lee informed me. "Hey Tenten, how about a match when we get back?"

How could I possibly resist this opportunity? Lee never asked me for a match, it was always NejiNejiNeji, but how could I blame him? "You're on!" I exclaimed as I dashed through the trees, Lee at my heels. It was nice; for once he wasn't rambling about Sakura, or ranting about Neji. It was just, you know, me and him.

It wasn't long until we got back to the village, or at least, it didn't seem like long, but we got it in the neck when we realised how long we had been away for. It had been darker for WAAAY longer than I realised, and for way longer than Lee realised as well, he told me. Turns out, Neji was actually training inside the private Hyuuga compound. So as not to be disturbed. So disturb him we did not. But, as always, it was hard to find anything to do. Everything was just so... unappealing. Until Lee asked me if I wanted to go on a walk with him, to which I happily obliged.

We walked all around the Village, through all the main streets, and even through a couple of alleyways. We dropped by Ichiraku Ramen for some food, before carrying on our casual stroll. We talked about everything, everything but the things that mattered. It was a carefree conversation, a warming conversation, and it really wasn't like anything I had shared with anyone before. We even went to the parts of the Village that truly were hidden in the leaves. I lay on one of the branches, whilst Lee did some random training exercise which I couldn't even comprehend.

I don't know what it was about him that gave him his charm, but sure as hell it was there. In fact, in all of our fun, we never noticed how tired we were, and the next morning, I found my head against Lee's skin-tight green suit. Thank God I woke up before him, otherwise, who know how awkward it would have gotten between us, either way, I doubt it wouldn't have mattered, considering how clueless Lee actually is, and my head was only on his shoulder, anyway.

I got up, and was careful not to disturb him. He looked… Cute? Is that what you could call it? He didn't have a 'charm' of any kind really, and he wasn't blessed with good looks, but somehow….

'Nay.' I thought to myself, trying to shake such things out of my mind. I dashed off, leaving him with a map of where we had agreed to meet Gai-sensei, just in case he forgot, like he sometimes did when Gai didn't tell him himself. That was the thing with Lee, it would seem if Gai didn't say it, no one said it. Well, with the exception of Sakura, his childish crush. It was too late, though, I couldn't shake such thoughts out of my head, his sleeping face was etched into my mind, my head was spinning, I stayed up way to late that night.

When I finally got to Gai-sensei, who was waiting with the ever calm Neji, he asked me where Lee was, and mentioned that he had seen us together last night. A smirk appeared on Neji's face, and my blood started to boil, but not before my face burned red. Thankfully, I was saved by the bell, or should I say, saved by the Lee. Who came running into the conversation at 100 miles an hour, the same happy, excitable Lee that I knew. He gave neji a look before launching into an entirely new conversation with Gai-sensei over something or other. When they finally finished their conversation (which seemed to go on forever and a day) we were finally given our Mission, to apprehend a pair of criminals, an assassin and a thief, both male. And it wasn't too far from the village either, only in the land of tea. We set off to complete our task, whilst Sensei stayed behind to do something. 'Probably to fight Kakashi or something' I assumed.

When we touched down in the land of tea, they were pretty much right in front of us. I wondered what the class of this mission was, because they looked incredibly thick. Well, turns out they weren't as thick as I thought. One of them struck a clear blow onto Neji's chest, and that was even with his all seeing eye. How the hell did they get past the byakugan?! That didn't matter much to us, well, it did to neji, who had just had a chunk of his pride removed, but not to me and Lee, we had to win this match, and apprehend the criminals and go home.

Lee was determined to show his stuff, and it didn't take long for him to do just that, well, try. No matter how hard he tried he just couldn't hit tem, and not even I could count how many weapons I fired at them, and they are my own weapons! I wondered why they weren't hitting me or Lee, or even the now fallen Neji anymore. But then hit me. I had seen people fight in this way before. try and get us to lower our guard and then…

"Shit." I muttered under my breath, and I couldn't fight back, I brought my hands to above, only to find myself…

Perfectly fine.

"LEE!" I saw the green clad young man standing above me; he smiled as wide as he could, before collapsing on top of me. I cried out his name again, thankfully, I could feel his pulse as he rested against my leg. This was war. I grabbed the largest scroll I had and carried on fighting as much as I could manage. I would defeat them. No matter what.

'I did it. I got one in the leg.' I thought triumphantly, not just anywhere in the leg either, but exactly the right place on his ankle. He was paralyzed. Now for the second one. they were so fast, I couldn't even see the other one move, but at the same time I didn't want to just keep mindlessly attacking, but I didn't have much of a choice. I just had to keep going, hope for the best, and pray that I didn't run out of weapons, or scrolls. and I didn't. it didn't make sence, he couldn't have gotten up in the state he was in, but he did. my night in a green, skin-tight suit- Rock Lee. he had always had determination, but I never thought that it went all the way into this, he struck me the 'nice guy pose', he seemed to be ignoring the blood that was running down his back and face. And despite all of the blood and being in a weakened state I don't think I've ever seen him move so fast, he was practically a green blur. He and I made the best of teams, and , despite how impossible the enemy seemed to be to beat, we managed to apprehend them both. Oh the power of a simple trip!

Gai-sensei turned up just after we had beaten them, we had taken so much time that he was also getting worried, and I can't even tell you how distraught Gai-sensei looked when he saw the state that Lee and Neji were in, and was surprised at my lack of wounds. I never really got over that, i have my suspicions that it was just that I was a girl, and that annoyed me to no end.

Anyway, when we got back from our mission, and were given our reward, lI saw Lee was going towards Sakura, supposedly to show off his battle wounds to her. What a numpty. Obviously, she was disinterested, she even looked a little freaked out, wait, scratch that, she was almost completely paralyzed the was that freaked out. She slapped him round his, already injured, face, and swiftly made her escape. Of course, Lee being Lee, didn't want to give up, but he seemed to weak to give chase. I felt bad for him, so I creeped up behind him and...

"LEE!" Jumped on him!

He made a noise that couldn't have been human. I laughed, and, eventually, he laughed too. We just laughed together, just standing there, just me and him, laughing. It warmed me inside.

"Hey, Lee?" I said.

"Yeah, Tenten?" He replied, in his obviously oblivious state, as per usual.

"Ummm..." I got nervous, and smiled a nervous smile "Sorry... but I... I think I..."

He gave me a strange look, cocked his head to the right slightly, "Ten?"

"I like you!" I suddenly burst out and ran in the direction of my house, I faintly heard him shout out my name from behind me, and I think I heard him run after me, but I couldn't be sure. No one was home yet, so I just ran straight into an empty house, and hid behind the door. Why was I scared? Why was I hiding? Love wasn't anything to be embarrassed about! Was it? I heard a knock on the door,

"Tenten!" I heard from the other side. 'Shit,he followed me.' I thought. "Open up! Are you in there?"

I poked my head around the door, and opened it. I guess i was on automatic, I just opened the door and let him in, we sat down and didn't speak a word. "Well, this is awkward." Lee finally spoke up. I couldn't have agreed more, but I couldn't say a word, so I simply nodded. He placed his hand on my shoulder. "Tenten."

I looked up at him, and I felt my face burn red. He laughed lightly, "Guess what?" He asked.

All the worst thoughts went straight through my head, what if I was going to be forced to move to a different team? Was he never going to talk to me again? Turns out it was nothing like that at all, "I like you too."

**"****WHAT?!" I blurted out, only to feel his arms wrapped around me. I found myself at a lack of voice, "What about Sakura?" My voice deteriorated into a whisper. He laughed, an old Lee laugh "That was just a front." I wasn't sure whether to believe him, but Lee was the most honest guy I knew, so, I guess I had to. I felt a happy tear roll down my face, I was Tenten! I never cried! But now, I found myself crying happy tears, and I felt his arms wrap around me. "Don't cry." He whispered in my ear, I wrapped my arms around him too, reaching up to peck him on the lips, but that plan went down the drain. Instead, I punched him, in the face, with my lips. Because I loved him.**

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**So there you have it! Sorry if it seemed a bit fast . I hope you enjoyed it :) **

**Please review :)**

**~EJF **

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wAS


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